Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2022 – Opening up the potential of windows

Yesterday, Glass for Europe, together with ARGE, European Aluminium, EPPA, ES-SO, and EuroWindoor, released their recommendations on the recast of the Energy Performance of Building Directive and the energy savings potential of windows.

High-performance windows and glazed areas have a role to play in the decarbonisation of the EU building stock, but they also improve the comfort and well-being of the people living and working in these buildings.

In the position paper, the group of window stakeholders requests the European Parliament and the Council to pursue 3 key objectives:

• To support window replacement in order to accelerate the Renovation Wave in line with the Energy Efficiency First principle.
• To encourage Member States to apply the “Energy Balance” approach while assessing the energy performance of windows.
• To provide a definition of Healthy Indoor Climate.

The windows and glazing industries see the proposed recast of the EPBD is an opportunity to ensure a proper assessment of windows and glazing energy performance by way of the energy balance. Already in 2019, the European Commission acknowledged that the consideration of building envelope elements and their influence on the energy performance of buildings also depends on the calculation methodologies applied ((EU) 2019/1019). The U-value alone gives an inexact picture of windows’ performance as it disregards the significant energy impact of solar heat gains.

Read the joint position paper: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2022 – Opening up the potential of windows